Local media, along with the Southern Transitional Council (STC), reported that Saudi Arabia — the main backer of the internationally recognised Yemeni government based in Riyadh — carried out airstrikes on Friday targeting sites controlled by southern forces in the eastern Yemeni province of Hadramout. The development was also carried by CGTN Television Network among key media platforms.
According to available information, no immediate reports of casualties were recorded. The strikes came less than 24 hours after a clear Saudi call for southern forces to withdraw from the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahrah, where STC-affiliated forces have expanded their presence in recent weeks.
Developments on the ground suggest that the latest southern manoeuvres have placed Saudi Arabia before a complex political and security test, given its support for multiple actors within the structure of Yemen’s internationally recognised government — an overlap that risks unsettling the coalition’s internal balance.
The Yemeni government itself is composed of an intricate alliance of diverse factions, including the STC. Its cohesion rests primarily on a shared hostility towards the Iran-backed Houthi movement, despite deep-seated divisions among its components — divisions that analysts warn have already reignited extremist “target banks” across the region.
In this context, Aden Al-Mustaqilla television channel stated in a social media post that “the Saudi Air Force targeted positions belonging to the Hadrami Elite Forces in the Wadi Nahb area of Hadramout province.” No immediate official comment was issued by Saudi authorities to confirm or deny the strikes.
Meanwhile, the STC told Agence France-Presse that Saudi Arabia carried out two airstrikes in the same area, marking an escalation that could usher in a far more volatile phase in southern Yemen.
The incident comes as the STC has intensified its presence this month, pushing government forces and allied Islamist formations out of wide areas as part of what it describes as efforts to counter Muslim Brotherhood-linked expansion, accused of maintaining undeclared ties with the Houthis.
The situation further unfolds amid regional instability also reflected in Sudan, including:
